4/07/2009

Once again the United Nations has proven to be a useless institution for international security. Following North Korea’s launch of a ballistic missile on Sunday, the UN Security Council convened for over three hours in a closed door session. The result of the meeting – you guessed it, nothing! The 15 members of the Security Council were unable to come to an agreement about what actions to take against the North Korean regime. Even prior to the meeting, China and Russia both made clear that they would use their veto power to block any resolution imposing new sanctions on Pyongyang, in part because they were not convinced that the missile launch violated prior Security Council resolutions.

In fact, the meeting of the Security Council was useless to the point that upon issuing the statement as the current president of the Security Council, Mexico’s UN Ambassador, Claude Heller, was prevented from using the phrase “express concern”. The only thing he was allowed to say was that Council members “agreed to continue consultations on the appropriate reaction by the Council…” I bet that Kim Jong-il, and dictators around the world for that matter, is quaking in his high heeled boots.

President Obama persists in his policy of running to the United Nations anytime there is an action by a rogue regime that threatens the security of the United States. The facts are that the UN is not effective in dealing with madmen who are heads of state. And yet, Obama’s UN Ambassador, Susan Rice, is still calling for the UN to make a “clear and firm response.” How many times does the United Nations have to fail to act before this administration will realize that it is nothing more than a failed anti-American organization?

The international community that the President often speaks of is a fiction. It has no influence. It doesn’t exist. It doesn’t do anything.

By launching this missile on the day that President Obama gave a grandiose speech in the Czech Republic about ridding the world of nuclear weapons, the North Koreans were sending him a message. That message is that there is no enforcement mechanism by which the President can fulfill this dream. It’s as if Mr. Obama believes that the moral authority of the United States will influence the two remaining members of the Axis of Evil to abandon their nuclear programs.

Of course, this will not happen. All nations act in their own self interests. The way to influence crazy dictators is with pressure. Not only diplomatic pressure, but, more importantly, economic pressure and military pressure. So far, there has been no economic pressure or military pressure against North Korea.

Unfortunately, it now appears that Kim Join-il is stronger than ever. According to Koh Yu-hwan, a Dongguk University professor of North Korea studies “Pride among North Koreans stemming from what they believe to be a successful launch would help keep his regime intact…” Mr. Koh believes that this launch creates a better atmosphere for Kim to hand over power to his chosen successor.

In Prague, Mr. Obama made the hollow promise that there will be consequences for North Korea's actions. So, while the President and his Secretary of State pound their fists and say that they type of action will not stand, the dictator taking the action grows stronger. When Mr. Obama says that North Korea has further isolated itself from the community of nations, what exactly does he mean? What is the consequence? It can’t possibly be that a closed door meeting of the Security Council in which nothing happens (and the outcome was predetermined) is a consequence in and of itself, can it? If so, President Obama’s childish dream of a world without nuclear weapons is further away than ever.

5 comments:

"I call it the Madman Theory, Bob. I want the North Vietnamese to believe I've reached the point where I might do anything to stop the war. We'll just slip the word to them that, 'for God's sake, you know Nixon is obsessed about Communism. We can't restrain him when he's angry -- and he has his hand on the nuclear button' -- and Ho Chi Minh himself will be in Paris in two days begging for peace."

Two thoughts. First, the United Nations is a JOKE and has been since the day it was "created". It's a waste of time to even hold a meeting in that building. They have no teeth, so it doesn't matter if they had invoked sanctions against ANY country. Second, North Korea is also a JOKE. I'm really unconcerned that they are a threat to anyone other than their own people. Even if the missile had been a success, it's nothing more than a scare tatctic on their part. Does anyone really believe that North Korea could launch more than one missile? If they did, it would be spotted quickly, and knocked out of the sky. They would never get the second missile off the ground because he U.S. is capable of LEVELING the entire country if necessary. We know where their launch sites are and I suspect that it wouldn't take long for us to respond, in fact before they ever could get the second missile ready. It's time to get real here, North Korea is only a threat to themselves. The lovable dictator has an ego problem much like the one that Saddam Hussein had. Saddam would be alive today and enjoying life had he just backed away from his claim of WMD's. In fact he admitted that before his very uncerimonious death. I've travelled to China 6 times in the last 4 years, and the "fear" of North Korea was such that the flight from Chicago always went considerably west of North Korean air space because as we were told, we didn't want to get shot down. Funny thing, I just flew into Shanghai on April 3rd, and the air route changed considerably and we flew much , much closer to North Korea's air space. In fact, it reduced the flight time by 1.5 hours. Folks, North Korea is a paper tiger!